Greece called a new round of elections for June 17 after coalition talks to form a government fell apart. The president said depositors were pulling hundreds of millions of euros out of banks, weakening the country’s strained financial system.

The developments fueled fears that Greece would exit the euro currency and shake global markets. In elections earlier this month, Greek voters punished parties that supported tough austerity measures needed to secure international bailout money.

But analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said the scheduling of new Greek elections suggested “a reduction in near-term uncertainties” that could lead to some relief for volatile markets.

Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 per cent to 5,380.72 in early trading. Germany’s DAX fell 0.2 per cent to 6,373.01 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.2 per cent to 3,042.45.

U.S. stocks were set for a moderately higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures up 0.3 per cent at 12,610. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4 per cent to 1,327.

In Asia, stock markets enjoyed a slight rebound as investors went bargain-hunting, analysts said.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.9 per cent to close at 8,876.59 after the country posted better-than-expected growth figures for the first quarter. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3 per cent to 1,845.24. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and the Philippines also rose business cards.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 per cent to 4,157.40, dragged down by financial stocks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.3 per cent down at 19,200.93.

Mainland Chinese shares bounced back from early losses, buoyed by calls from the country’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, for market reforms.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 per cent to 2,378.89. The Shenzhen Composite Index also gained 1.4 per cent to 954.95. Shares in brokerages, financial and trading-related companies led the gains.

Positive news on the U.S. economy on Wednesday underpinned sentiment in Asia. Construction of homes in April rose 2.6 per cent from March, and U.S. factory production increased 0.6 per cent in April, helped by a gain in auto production.

Some Japanese stocks saw big gains amid news that the country’s economy grew at an annualized 4.1 per cent for the January-March quarter thanks to a rebound in consumer spending.

Sharp Corp. jumped 5.7 per cent and Mazda Motor Corp. added 3.8 per cent. Steel company JFE Holdings shot up 5.5 per cent.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 52 cents to $93.33 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell by $1.17 to finish at a seven-month low of $92.81 per barrel in New York.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2715 from $1.2725 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar rose to 80.35 yen from 80.29 yen.

___

AP researcher Fu Ting contributed from Shanghai.

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Wal-Mart says that it earned $3.74 billion, or $1.09 per share, in the quarter ended April 30. That compares with $3.39 billion, or 97 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales excluding membership fees from Sam’s Club rose 8.6 percent to $112.2 billion.

Analysts had expected $1 guaranteed online personal loans.04 per share on net sales of $110.5 billion.

Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 2.6 percent at its Wal-Mart’s namesake U.S. division. That’s above the 1.4 percent estimate from Wall Street.

The company is offering an upbeat profit outlook for the current quarter.

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Dimon will speak Tuesday morning at the bank’s annual meeting in Tampa, Fla.

Shareholders will vote on whether to separate the bank’s chairman and CEO positions, both held by Dimon. They will also vote their approval or disapproval of Dimon’s $23 million pay package from last year.

Analysts say Dimon is unlikely to lose those votes.

Investors have pummeled JPMorgan’s stock price since Dimon disclosed the trading loss on Thursday. The stock has dropped 12 percent and lost almost $20 billion in market value.

Dimon got something of a vote of confidence from President Barack Obama, who appeared on ABC’s “The View” for an episode to be aired Tuesday. Obama used the appearance to press for tighter regulation of Wall Street.

“JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is,” the president said. “Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got, and they still lost $2 billion and counting.”

Obama said the bank was “making bets” in the market for the complex financial instruments known as derivatives. Dimon has said the bank was hedging against financial risk.

A part of the 2010 financial overhaul known as the Volcker rule would restrict banks from some trading for their own profit. Dimon and critics of the financial industry have disagreed over whether the trading in question would violate that rule.

Dimon is likely to repeat his acceptance of responsibility for the bad trade. He said in a TV interview Sunday that he was “dead wrong” when he dismissed concerns about the bank’s trading last month.

“We made a terrible, egregious mistake,” Dimon told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There’s almost no excuse for it.”

On Monday, Ina Drew, the bank’s chief investment officer and one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street, left the bank. Drew oversaw the trading group responsible for the $2 billion loss.

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H1 now has about 10 percent of its staff in Estonia, where the hourly labor cost is a fifth of Sweden

EverBank Financial Corp., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based financial services firm, formed the wealth management subsidiary to provide wealthy customers looking for institutional-caliber investment advice.

“We see that as lacking in the market,” EverBank Wealth Management’s CEO Frank Trotter said in an interview.

Launched Monday, EverBank Wealth Management Inc. joins many other financial institutions that are seeking to grow revenue by broadening investment services for the wealthy.

EverBank’s wealth management subsidiary is based at 8300 Eager Road, where the bank’s World Markets division and some other bank operations are based. Some wealth management executives are based here, including Trotter, and some are based in Jacksonville.

Locally, EverBank employs about 150 people in Brentwood, which will grow as the wealth management business expands, Trotter said.

Companywide, EverBank has 575,000 customers nationwide and $10.3 billion in assets as of the end of 2011. The wealth management company formation came the same week EverBank launched an initial public offering of its stock.

Trotter, a longtime St. Louis banker, formed EverBank as an Internet-based bank in 1999. In 2002, EverBank was acquired by Alliance Capital Partners, a holding company based in Jacksonville, which later changed its name to EverBank Financial.

Through its World Markets division in Brentwood, EverBank offers investments in foreign currencies and in precious metals.

EverBank already works with more than 200 broker-dealer and investment advisory firms nationwide, matching customers with advisors through its Advisor Services unit, which is also based in Brentwood.

But the bank lacked its own in-house advisory services after EverBank sold in 2002 its investment advisory business, Acropolis Investment Management, which is based locally.

“People have always asked: can’t you just manage my money for me,” Trotter said.

“We wanted to get back into it,”he said of EverBanks’ return to offering investment advice.

David Conover, EverBank Wealth Management’s president and chief operating officer, said the concentration of investment advisors in the St. Louis area — which is home to a mass of financial services firms including Wells Fargo Advisors and Edward Jones — will help in recruitment efforts for the subsidiary.

“There’s a concentration of talent in St. Louis and economies of scale” with EverBank’s existing operations, Conover said.

EverBank’s push into wealth management comes as other banks, including U.S. Bank, Commerce Bank, and Enterprise Bank & Trust, have added new services or added staff to increase their wealth management offerings as the population of high net worth individuals, or those with at least $1 million in invest-able assets, continues to grow.

Trotter said EverBank Wealth Management’s strategy is to offer a simple fee structure based on a customers’ assets and to put an emphasis on listening to customers.

“We’ve observed over the years that some brokers say ‘this is the way I do it,’” Trotter said. “We want to listen to the client and hear the way they approach investing and how they feel about the economic situation – we want to have a conversation with them and I feel that’s radically different than what’s available.”

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]]> http://onlinebusinesssurvey.com/spain-stakes-credibility-on-fourth-bank-cleanup-in-three-years-bloomberg/feed/ http://onlinebusinesssurvey.com/stocks-tumble-on-greece-uncertainty/ http://onlinebusinesssurvey.com/stocks-tumble-on-greece-uncertainty/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 13:48:03 +0000 Gogo http://onlinebusinesssurvey.com/stocks-tumble-on-greece-uncertainty/ U.S. stocks sank Tuesday, although the major indexes closed off session lows, as Greece’s uncertain political situation keeps investors on edge.

The Dow Jones industrial average () fell 76 points, or 0.6%, to 12,932. The S&P 500 () tumbled 6 points, or 0.4%, to 1,364. The Nasdaq () declined 11 points, or 0.4%, to 2,946.

The selling picked up steam during the morning, with the S&P 500 touching a 2-month low, as stocks in Europe fell sharply. But major indexes in the United Sates pared losses in the last hour of trading.

All eyes continue to be on Europe, after Greece’s main center-right party failed to form a coalition government. Now, the left-wing coalition, which is opposed to austerity as the way to close Greece’s debt gap, will have three days to form a government.

The latest development is feeding investors’ fears that Greece might have to drop out of the eurozone.

"The political stalemate in Greece is casting a shadow over risk markets in general and equities in particular," said Nick Stamenkovic, investment strategist at RIA Capital Markets in Edinburgh. "Investors are questioning whether Greece will be a part of the single currency at the end of this year."

The Greek stock market fell 3.6%, adding to sharp losses in the previous session.

Greece could drop euro but tragedy won’t follow

As various parties grapple with forming a coalition government in Greece, it’s looking increasingly likely that new elections will need to be held, most likely in mid-June. That throws into question whether Greece will be forced to renegotiate its bailout funding.

Greek leftist leader Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday laid out the radical agenda he hopes to pursue if he becomes prime minister, including the cancellation of international loan agreements to Greece that forced the country into sharp budget cuts.

Meanwhile, European Union leaders are grappling with the need to boost economic growth during a time of austerity. Early Tuesday, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy set May 23 as the date for an unscheduled EU summit, announcing on his Twitter feed that it would be an "informal dinner."

In addition to the "re-circulating woes in Europe," investors were also rattled by weak sales numbers from McDonalds, said Peter Tuz, portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Va.

"More uncertainty in Europe is not good for U.S. markets, nor is the weakness in consumer-oriented stocks," said Tuz.

U.S. stocks recovered from a shaky start Monday, following elections in France and Greece over the weekend payday loan.

World markets: European stocks fell sharply late in the day to end lower. Britain’s FTSE 100 () was down 1.7%. The DAX () in Germany shed 1.9%. In France, the benchmark CAC 40 () fell 3% one day after Socialist party leader Francois Hollande won the nation’s presidential election.

In the bond market, investors bought €1.3 billion worth of short-term Greek government bills out of €2.6 billion offered. The yield was 4.69%, up from 4.55% at the last auction in April.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite () slid 0.1% and the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong lost 0.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei () rose 0.7%.

Companies: Shares of fashion accessories maker Fossil () plunged after it reported first-quarter revenue that fell short of even the lowest forecasts.

Fast-food chain Wendy’s () reported operating income of 1 cent a share, falling short of analysts’ forecasts for a profit of 3 cents a share.

Shares for Electronic Arts () slipped after the video-game maker cut its first-quarter outlook for the period ending in June.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury may eventually turn a $15.1 billion profit on its bailout of insurer AIG (, Fortune 500) when all final payments and asset sales are complete.

McDonald’s Corp.’s (, Fortune 500) same-store sales increased 3.3%, both globally and in the U.S. market. Analysts were expecting sales to grow 5%, according to Reuters. Sales rose 3.5% in Europe, but only 1.1% in the unit that includes Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

In other corporate news, shares of DirecTV (, Fortune 500) slipped even as the broadcast satellite provider reported slightly better earnings and sales in line with forecasts.

Entertainment conglomerate and Dow component Walt Disney (, Fortune 500) will report earnings after the close. The studio had a blockbuster weekend with "The Avengers," which broke records with box office sales of $200.3 million during opening weekend. Those sales will not be included in this report, while an estimated $200 million in losses on epic bomb "John Carter" will.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained strength against the euro and British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for June delivery fell 93 cents to end at $97.01 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery dropped $34.60 to settle at $1,604.50 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell Tuesday, leaving the yield at 1.84%. 

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The new rules will also require additional testing of oil and gas well construction and require the industry to have a management plan for the water used in the process.

"This proposed rule will strengthen the requirements for hydraulic fracturing performed on federal and Indian lands in order to build public confidence and protect the health of American communities, while ensuring continued access to the important resources that make up our energy economy," the Interior Department said in a statement.

The move is part of a broader administration effort to increase rules for the controversial practice. Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency tightened air pollution requirements for new oil and gas wells.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is known, has unleashed a boom in energy production in the United States by allowing the production of oil and gas from shale rock. It has reduced the country’s oil imports, boosted natural gas production and provided thousands of jobs.

Most major oil companies are now involved in shale oil and gas production, including Exxon Mobil (, Fortune 500), Royal Dutch Shell (, Fortune 500) and BP ().

But the process has also raised fears of ground water contamination and is suspected of causing mild earthquakes.

Fracking involves injecting water, sand and some chemicals deep into the earth to crack shale rock, which allows oil and gas to more easily flow. Critics fear the chemicals are seeping into the groundwater.

Obama tightens oil and gas drilling regulations

About 20% of the nation’s natural gas production and 30% of its oil production is done on federal lands.

The oil and gas industry has long resisted disclosing what chemicals it uses in the fracking process, arguing they were trade secrets and that disclosure would harm their competitive advantage.

But environmentalists and public health officials lobbied for the disclosure, saying it was needed to monitor for pollution and effectively treat workers involved in accidents.

The ingredients used in fracking vary widely, and can include everything from sulfuric acid and benzene to instant coffee and paraffin wax.

While the industry initially resisted disclosing the formula, it has gradually been moving in that direction under intense public pressure. Many states now require disclosure, and many companies list at least some of the ingredients on a website called FracFocus.

Environmentalists were pleased with Friday’s announcement but said even more should be done.

They said the new rules only require chemical disclosure after the fracturing has been done. What’s needed, they say, is disclosure before the job so residents can do baseline testing of their water.

"We think the administration can and should have done more here to protect human health and the environment," said Amy Mall, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The government "should not propose rules that are weaker than what any state has on the books."

Most fracking regulations are controlled by the states, but environmentalists have argued that the federal government should play a greater role.

The industry maintains the state rules are sufficient, and having the federal government involved adds an unnecessary layer of regulation that is both costly and time consuming.

In reacting to the new rules Friday, the industry didn’t seem too concerned with the proposal itself, but was leery of a bigger federal presence.

"The states have proven time and again that they are the best place for responsible regulation of drilling operations," The American Petroleum Institute’s Erik Milito said in a statement. "While it appears constructive changes have been made, we are still reviewing the new proposal to see how the agency addressed the various concerns that we’ve raised."

The trend in fracking regulation has been moving toward an increased federal role. Many analysts say the increased regulation is both necessary to convince the public the process is safe and affordable for the industry.

The Obama administration is generally supportive of fracking, but with increased oversight.

There still exists two extremes in this fight, with some in the industry opposing any new rules and some critics arguing the process should be banned altogether.

–CNN’s Poppy Harlow contributed to this report 

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Buffett says the successor Berkshire’s board has in mind won’t do anything to turn off the managers of the 80-odd companies Berkshire owns.

Many of the managers of Berkshire companies are independently wealthy themselves. They work only because they enjoy it, and Buffett largely lets them operate their companies independently instant credit report.

Buffett says that his successor will be better than he is in many ways.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger says that there is so much momentum within the company that it would be hard for Buffett’s successor to change the company.

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Col. Philip Aguer said Friday that the bombs were dropped late Thursday afternoon. He said two civilians were wounded in the bombings, which took place on the town of Laloba, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Unity State capital of Bentiu in South Sudan.

The attacks came one day after Sudan announced it had accepted an agreement put forward by the African Union to return to talks with South Sudan Same day payday loans. The agreement demands both sides adhere to a cease-fire.

Major violence between the two sides has flared in recent weeks, pushing the region to the edge of all-out war.

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